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PI OriginalAricka FlowersSunday December 2nd, 2012, 8:19pm

The PI Week In Review

The week that was in news and politics (November 26 - December 2).

City and Cook County News

The week started out with Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett proposing
a five-year moratorium on school closings starting next school year.
The caveat? That state legislators approve a request to push back the
announcement of the schools the district plans to close at the end of
this academic year. The district, which should — by law — announce
impending school closures by December 1, would like to push back the
announcement to March 31, but needs the state legislature to approve the
delay.

The impending loss next month of 300 custodial jobs at
O’Hare International Airport has raised concerns over the future
relationship between city leaders and organized labor. At a meeting held Thanksgiving week
at the headquarters of SEIU* Local 1, the Local's President Tom
Balanoff sat alongside seven janitors as they spoke about the impact the
loss of their jobs would have on themselves and their families.

Meanwhile, labor rights advocates are hopeful the findings of a new report will help shed some light on what they describe as the unfair treatment many domestic workers experience on the job.

Former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is pointing to an accounting error as the reason for the disappearance of $500,000 from his campaign fund. Stroger, who at first noted interest in running for Jesse Jackson Jr.'s vacated U.S. House seat, has since changed his mind and is no longer interested in the job.

Chicago home prices fell in September .6 percent compared
to August, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. Home
prices were down in Chicago 1.5 percent compared to the same time last
year.

Longtime environmentalist and climate change educator Bill McKibben’s sustainable
tour bus rolled into Chicago Wednesday night as part of a global movement to
take down the fossil fuel industry. Progress Illinois was there for the
festivities and offered a rundown on the tour's main talking points and
messaging for Illinoisans, particularly the state's college students and
young adults.

Just before the holidays, 54 janitors who worked for the Chicago Public Library received pink
slips Friday. The workers, who expected to work through mid-December,
will not be returning to work, but will be paid through December 14. O'Hare janitors worried about the future of their jobs made a trip to
Mayor Rahm Emanuel's house Thursday afternoon to protest a new city
contract. The workers rallied outside of the mayor's home on his 53rd
birthday to protest the deal that will cause some 300 workers to lose
their jobs next month, just days before the holidays.

State News

Illinois
has racked up $96 billion in unfunded pension obligations, and that’s
left some young people wondering what the state’s biggest political
issue of 2012 means for their future. On Monday, we took a look at the distrust — and apathy — surrounding public sector jobs and Illinois' pension problems among the state's young workers.

State Sen. Martin Sandoval's (D-Cicero) company, Puentes, Inc., is receiving
monthly payments from two towns he represents in the Illinois General
Assembly for media consultation services. Specifically, Sandoval's
company is being paid to translate press releases into Spanish and
similar services for the towns of Cicero and Melrose Park.

State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) says he will try and push for the passage
of medical marijuana legislation in the state House during the Illinois
General Assembly's veto session. Lang says he is close to having the 60
votes needed to pass a bill in the House.

The Illinois House and Senate both passed
their own bills that would allow the Chicago Public Schools to push
back their announcement of schools on their closure list from December 1
to March 31.

Gov. Pat Quinn says he will continue to push for a ban on assault weapons despite the Illinois Senate's failure to pass legislation on the issue on Tuesday.

The same day, the Illinois House Revenue Committee passed a
resolution that claims the state is too cash poor to pay for
the raises of unionized state employees this budgetary year, which ends
in June of 2013. The resolution is headed for a full House vote and
must also pass the Illinois Senate to actually have an impact. AFSCME,
which represents some 40,000 state employees, says the resolution will
hurt labor relations in the state.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Senate voted to restore
$56 million in funds for the running of Tamm's Supermax Prison, Dwight
women's prison, two youth facilities and three halfway houses.

Democratic State Sen. Dan Kotowski of Park Ridge introduced legislation
that would require elected officials to disclose more information on
their financial interests as a first step towards ethics reform in the
state.

An Illinois Senate panel approved
a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get a drivers'
license. Some 250,000 people would be eligible to get a drivers' license
under the law, if the legislation passes the General Assembly.

Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) retained
her seat as the head of the Illinois Senate's Republican party for
another two years. Radogno's Republican cohorts voted for her to keep
the job Wednesday night in a closed door meeting.

On Thursday, Chicago West Side State Rep. LaShawn Ford was indicted on bank fraud charges. State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) is appealing
to his fellow House members, asking them allow him to keep his seat and
stay neutral on the issue surrounding his federal indictment on bank
fraud charges. The Chicago West Side legislator, who also represents
some of the western suburbs, filed a resolution in the state House Friday
asking its members to delay judgement on the charges.

The findings of a new poll offer some not-so-good news
for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. Public Policy Polling found that Quinn
is the most unpopular governor in the nation, with an approval rating
of a mere 25 percent.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan joined
nine other state attorneys general in opposing a gun permit law being
considered by the U.S. Senate. The attorneys general sent a joint letter
to Senate leaders Friday encouraging them not to move forward with the
National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which would allow licensed gun
owners to bring concealed guns over state lines.

National News

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against
Illinois prosecutors seeking to enforce a law that banned people from
filming police while they are at work. The law, which the justices
agreed went against citizens' rights to free speech, carried a maximum
penalty of 15 years in prison.

Gov. Pat Quinn has set
a special election date for former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s 2nd
congressional district seat. The special primary election date will be
February 26, 2013, which coincides with other local elections. On
Monday, former congresswoman Debbie Halvorson has threw her hat
in the ring to run for Jesse Jackson Jr.'s now empty 2nd congressional
district seat. Halvorson ran against Jackson in the March primary,
garnering 24 percent of the vote to his 58 percent.

Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds also says
he wants to run for his old 2nd congressional district seat, which has
been vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr. Reynolds held the seat from 1993 to
1995 until he was forced out due to sex crimes, including sex with a
minor who worked as a campaign volunteer. And after much speculation,
State Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) announced her plans to run for former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson
Jr.'s House seat on Thursday.

Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said
the fiscal cliff can be avoided if lawmakers make the right choices and
outlined a progressive plan for them to do just that. The Senate's
number 2 Democrat says taxes are the first issue that needs to be
addressed followed by reforming entitlements; the latter of which
Republicans are adamant about tying to any deal that addresses the
fiscal cliff.

The movement to ensure that people with
disabilities are treated fairly throughout the world moved forward a bit
this week via a Senate vote. On Tuesday, the chamber voted to move the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the
floor for a debate by a 61-36 vote. But there are some indications that
the treaty will not get the two-thirds majority vote it needs for
ratification.

As the debate on the fiscal cliff rages on, the Obama administration
took to its tech tool box and found yet another way to use social media
as a means to make an impact in Washington. On Wednesday, the Obama
administration asked American Twitter users to use the hashtag #My2k to
post messages about how a tax increase of $2,000 would impact their
daily lives.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced
that BP will be banned from entering into new contracts with the
federal government as a result of 2010's Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Applications for unemployment assistance have fallen for the second consecutive week, according to the Labor Department.

Hostess Brands got the nod
from a bankruptcy judge on Thursday to wind down the company's
operations and sell off the brand, all while paying 19 top executives
some $1.8 million in bonuses. Meanwhile, some 18,000 workers, including 1,400 in Illinois, are set to lose their jobs.

Gov. Pat Quinn says he will continue to push for a ban on assault weapons despite the Illinois Senate's failure to pass legislation on the issue on Tuesday.